Friday, 9 October 2015

A man of many parts, son of Daniel and Elizabeth Langley, he was born at Twickenham in Middlesex, and baptised at the parish church on 14 Sept. 1696 (parish reg. at Twickenham). His father was a gardener in the neighbourhood, and he seems first to have occupied himself as a landscape gardener (see Langley, Practical Geometry, p. 35). He resided first at Twickenham, removed to Parliament Stairs, Westminster, about 1736, and to Meard's Court, Dean Street, Soho, with his brother Thomas about 1740. His taste in architectural design has been much derided in the past particularly by George Vertue and repeated by Horace Walpole.

An architect and writer, he is best known for his numerous manuals and pattern books for artisans and craftsmen. He also manufactured statues, busts and architectural ornaments in an artificial stone and provided designs for the pediment as part of his architectural scheme for London’s new Mansion House.

Langley was evidently making artificial stone before 1730 for he staged a demonstration in London on 11 November 1729, when a comparison was made between the weight-bearing capacity of his product and natural Portland stone. It was reported in the Northampton Mercury that the Portland stone broke when the weight placed on it exceeded 168 lbs, whilst Langley's formidable artificial stone only collapsed when the weight was increased to 276 lbs. Vertue described Langley’s product as ‘a New invention of casting in stone or a hard composition - busts, statues, columns &c. or any frize or cornish workes for building. in immitation of free stone. & said to be more durable ... made near Lambeth and sold by one Batty Langley’, whom he described disparagingly as ‘a bold face undertaker’ (Vertue III, 51). The material may not indeed have been of Langley’s own invention since a similar substance had been patented by Richard Holt in 1722 and Holt maintained that Langley obtained the formula by foul means.

During the spring and summer of 1731 Langley advertised that ‘Sculptured or Carved Ornaments’, including statues, busts, ‘all manner of curious Vases, Urns, Pine Apples, Pedestals for Sundials, Balustrades, Key-Stones to the Arches of Windows and Doors, Bases and Capital for Piers of Gates, Columns and Pilasters’ were available from his warehouse at ‘the Hercules Head, near the Faulcon-Stairs on the Bank-side in Southwark’ (Daily Ad, 25 May-6 July 1731). Holt retaliated with a notice stating that ‘it appears from three several Affidavits, how and by what means [Langley] has come at any Insight into the Art of making Artificial Stone; and how very defective and short of Holt’s true Secret, his Discoveries (by tampering with Workmen) must needs be’ (Daily Ad, 28 May-1 June 1731). None of Langley’s artificial stone products have been identified and no information about the composition has been discovered but it is possible that a fired clay portrait medallion of Sir Isaac Newton, formerly in Langley’s possession, is one of his products (BM MLA SL 1984). If so, Langley’s material was not strictly an artificial stone and was not related to the formulae developed by Holt or the Coade Factory since it contained neither lead nor glass.

Langley was one of the architects who unsuccessfully entered the competition to design a new Mansion House for the City of London in 1735-37. He was apparently the only architect to include a design for the pediment, depicting Britannia with the Arms of the City, attended by numerous allegorical figures. The architect George Dance the Elder won the competition and the tympanum sculpture was executed by Sir Robert Taylor.

Rupert Gunnis notes payments for work supplied to Lord Folkestone at Longford Castle by ‘Langley’, some of them paid for seven years after Batty Langley’s death, and he suggests that either the business was carried on after his demise or that there were two Langleys (see below for details of his brother Thomas). The items included a sundial, for which Folkestone paid £1 13s in 1748, carved capitals at £10 15s 6d (1757), ‘stucco ornaments to ye Venetian seat’ at 7 guineas (1758), four shields on gate piers at 12 guineas (1758) and a carved head in the passage at £4 12s 6d (1758).
EH

15. 'Ancient Architecture, restored and improved, by a great variety of Grand and Useful Designs' (1st part), London, plates dated 1741. The whole work, with a dissertation 'On the Ancient Buildings in this Kingdom,' and entitled 'Gothic Architecture,' 1747. Some examples of these 'Gothic orders of my own invention' were actually erected by Langley in London. The original drawings for the work are preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum.

Thomas Langley (fl. 1745), engraver of antiquities, &c., brother of the above, was born at Twickenham in March 1702, and for some years of his life resided at Salisbury. He engraved 'A Plan of St. Thomas's Church in the City of New Sarum,' north-west and south-east views of the church drawn by John Lyons, 1745, and 'The Sacrifice of Matthews to Jupiter,' drawn by Lyons, 1752. He both drew and engraved many of the plates for his brother's books, and taught architectural drawing to his pupils.

The bust is first mentioned as being at Castle
Howard by the 5th Earl in his 1805 Listing of Sculptures (op. cit.). This
reference is highly significant for the reason that the 5th Earl famously
acquired pictures from the Orléans collection in 1798, which were subsequently
displayed in the Orléans Room.

The Orleans collection had been amassed
principally by Anne of Austria’s grandson, Philippe II, duc d’Orléans
(1674-1723), and it had, until the Revolution, been housed in the Palais Royal,
the queen’s residence after it had been gifted to her husband by Cardinal
Richelieu upon his death in 1642.

Lord Carlisle would consequently have been
all too aware of the significance of possessing a bust of Anne of Austria, and
it seems likely, given its absence in earlier inventories, that the marble was
acquired because of the sitter’s identity and her relevance to the collection.

This hypothesis is given credence by the presence of a miniature depicting Anne
of Austria in the collection (now no longer in the collection; Hawkesbury, op.
cit., p. 21, no. 26).

Lord Carlisle did not acquire the bust at the 1798
Orléans sale, since pictures only were included in the sale. He must,
therefore, have purchased it subsequently.

RELATED LITERATURE

Lord Hawkesbury, Catalogue of the Portraits,
Miniatures, &c., at Castle Howard, The Transactions of the East Riding
Antiquarian Society for the Year Ending October 1903, XI, 1904, p. 21, no. 26;

M. Vickers, 'Rupert of the Rhine: A new portrait by Dieussart and Bernini's
Charles I,' Apollo, March, 1978, pp. 161-169;

Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales (1707-1751), was the first-born son of King George II and Queen Caroline. At about 1750 the Prince of Wales was endeavoring to acquire popularity, which may have promoted the issuance of this medal.

This medal commemorated no particular event but the general state of the kingdom. The few years of peace that followed the Treaty of Aix-la Chapelle were the most prosperous and happy that Europe had ever known. Arts and letters were encouraged and cultivated, manufacturing and commerce flourished, and society was highly polished.

According to Eisler, this medal, despite it bearing the signature of Jean Dassier, was most likely re-engraved and struck by Antoine Dassier from dies then in his possession.

The obverse is cut from dies made in 1731 for the Dedicatory medal for the Series of Kings and Queens of England. As the reverse die for this piece was cut after the King's death in 1760, this medal is often not included as part of Dassier's Series of the Kings and Queen of England. The reverse intimates that the King's arms had triumphed in every quarter of the globe, and under the direction of Pitt, whose authority was almost equivalent to that of a Roman Dictator, had been called to guide the helm at a time of extraordinary difficulties.

Montagu (1688 (c)-1749) succeeded his father to the dukedom in 1709 and married John 1st Duke of Marlborough's youngest daughter but, although they had two sons, when Montagu suddenly died of a 'violent fever' he had no surviving male heirs and the title became extinct. Montagu House, his London home, became the repository for national treasures which opened in 1759 as the British Museum.

In 1739, the country's first home for abandoned children, the Foundling Hospital was created in London. Montagu was a supporter of this effort and was one of the charity's founding governors. He also financed the education of two notable black British figures of the age - Ignatius Sancho and Francis Williams, sending the latter to Cambridge.

He was Master of the Great Wardrobe, Colonel of the Queen's Regiment of Horse, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

He was a notorious practical joker, his mother-in-law writing of him that "All his talents lie in things only natural in boys of fifteen years old, and he is about two and fifty; to get people into his garden and wet them with squirts, and to invite people to his country houses and put things in beds to make them itch, and twenty such pretty fancies as these."

He is said to have once dunked the political philosopher Montesque in a tub of cold water as a joke.
(quoted in Martin C. Battestin's "General Introduction" to Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews. Middleton, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1967: xxvin. Montagu is believed by some literary critics to be the model for Fielding's "roasting squire," the vicious squire who plays practical jokes).

(These Most Truthful Portraits of Illustrious Men, Who Have Labored for the Revival and Restoration of the True Christian Religion and Polite Literature in Europe, Jean Dassier, a Genevese, Offers, Presents, and Dedicated to the Right Reverend Father in Christ, William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan, 1725.)Signed: JOANNES DASSIER.

Ref: M.I. 462/73; Eimer 76/500; Eisler I, 209/1a

This is the Dedicatory medal for Dassier's Series of 24 medallion portraits Protestant Reformers (Reformauteurs de l'Eglise) each 28 mm in diam in struck in silver and bronze in Geneva in 1725. Dassier was encouraged in this project by Jean-Alphonse Turrettini (1671 - 1737) of Geneva a keen numismatist and propogandist for the protestant faith - The son of Francois Turretin, he studied theologyat Geneva under Louis Tronchin and after travelling in England, Holland and France was received into the "Venerable Compagnie des Pasteurs" of Geneva in 1693. Here he became pastor of the Italian congregation, and in 1697 professor of church history, and later (1705) of theology.

In 1711 Jean Dassier collaborated with the French medallist Jerome Roussel to produce a series of 60 medals representing Les Metemorphoses d'Ovide which were struck in Geneva. Another edition was struck in 1717 dedicated to Phillipe d'Orleans Regent of France.

The set of 24 medallions of Protestant Reformers followed Jean Dassier's 1723/4 series of 73 small portrait medallions of the great men and women of France from drawings provided by his cousin Jacques Antoine Arlaud (1668 - 1743) miniaturist to the Regent, Phillipe d'Orleans. These had been selected from the engravings by Charles Perrault in Hommes Illustres qui ont paru en France pendant ce siècle, pub Paris 1696 - 1700. This series which celebrated the achievements and cultural glories of the reign of Louis VIV, was trumpeted in the Mercure de France in August of 1723 and was sold in Paris by the Genevan goldsmith Jaques le Double in his boutique in the Place Dauphine.

These medallions of the Protestant Reformers were very different from the previous set in that they celebrated the achievements of anti Catholic, German, Dutch, Swiss and English Protestant reformers including Martin Luther, Jean Calvin, Nicholas Ridley and John Knox, which were virulently opposed by Louis XIV. They celebrated the efforts of Turettin and Wake to unite the protestant states.

The Dassiers seemed to have been able to perform a balancing act with their art, pleasing various opposing forces, Protestant and Catholic, and later the English Prime Minister Walpole and his opposition, even including Oliver Cromwell in the series of English monarchs

Jean Dassier visited England in 1728 in the hope of gaining a position at the Royal Mint which was ultimately unsuccessful but cemented his relationship with English patrons. In February 1730 the initial pieces for the Rois d'Angleterre were presented at the court of George II and Queen Caroline by the prelate from Zurich, Johann Heinrich Ott, an aide to Archbishop Wake. Wake himself discussed the project with the Queen and in June 1731 a subscription campaign, with a flyer in both English and French was initiated to finance series of Kings and Queens of England. The smaller series of Medallions of British worthies was commenced also at this time.

Thee versions of these sets of medals which were partially gilt were distributed to prestigious clients. There are some in the Royal Collection and a set in the British Museum.

Although he received support from high place there were critics of his work in particular George Vertue who criticised the initial proofs for the medallions of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Queen Mary for their lack of authenticity. Vertue is believed to have supplied engravings by himself based on originals by Hans Holbein for Edward VI, Isaac Oliver for Elizabeth I and Antonis Mors. Vertue wrote in his notebook in April 1733 that the set of worthies was to be produced including medals of Chaucer Shakespeare Milton, Camden, Bacon, Selden, Harvey, Boyle, Spenser, Locke, Clarke, Duke of Marlborough and Newton in the event only eight came to fruition.

These medallions were produced at about the same time as those by Rysbrack and Scheemakers for the Temple of British Worthies Stowe House and those by Guelfi for Queen Caroline's Grotto.

Vertue says that the Dassier medallion of Shakespeare is based on his engraving. The medal of Milton perhaps, should be viewed as a pendant to that of Shakespeare, and is based on an authentic pastel taken from life, engraved by Vertue and ratified by Milton's daughter Deborah.

William Wake (1657-1737) was educated at Oxford and, through a succession of appointments, became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1716. He was the author of several theological works and many volumes of sermons. Wake was also a numismatist and an ardent collector of medals, including those by Jean Dassier. He was particularly impressed with the special nature of Dassier's medallic work, noting that previously the most elegant and ingenious monuments had been erected to princes and heroes whose atrocious deeds had brought about the ruination of nations and peoples. By contrast, to Dassier's great credit, he had chosen to commemorate those men who were accomplished in the arts and sciences, and in particular those who had employed their talent for the glory of God. (Eisler).

As is indicated in the legend on the reverse of this medal, Dassier dedicated this series of medals to William Wake.

Wake is probably the most important character in the history of the Dassier medals with English subjects and was the main link between the Swiss Medallists and English society. It is tempting to suggest a link between the Dassiers and Louis Francois Roubiliac who arrived in England in about 1730 certainly they influenced him in his remarkably naturalistic portraits particularly that of Martin Folkes but it is also distinctly possible that he exercised a strong influence on the younger Jacques Antoine Dassier, son of Jean Dassier, who arrived in England in 1740. He took up his position as third engraver to the Royal Mint in April of 1741. The first three medals of the series of British worthies are displayed in London in June 174.

The later series of British worthies by Jaques-Antoine Dassier, commenced with the portrait of Martin Folkes, followed by de Moivre and Alexander Pope. He had issued a prospectus reported in the press both in England and abroad for 13 medals (only 12 were produced). Eisler suggests that wax portraits were made in England and the medals struck by his brother Antoine in Geneva (they are signed A Dassier).

A visit to his website is essential for anyone interested in pre 19th century European Medallions.

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The Dassier family of Geneva constituted a group of celebrated Swiss medallists from the late 17th to mid 18th centuries. The father, Domaine Dassier (1641-1719), was Chief-engraver at the Mint of Geneva from 1677 to 1720. His son, Jean Dassier (1676-1763), who succeeded his father as Chief-engraver on his father’s death in 1720, studied die-sinking under his father and later in Paris under Mauger and Roettiers.

Jacques Antoine Dasasier (1715 - 59) son of Jean Dassier learned the art of die-sinking under the celebrated goldsmith Germain of Paris. He was engaged as Engraver at the Royal Mint, London from 1741 - 1757. Another son of Jean Dassier, Antoine (1718-1780), worked with his father for a number of years, issuing a series of medals bearing the signature DASSIER ET FILS.
The series of British worthies by Jaques-Antoine Dassier, son of Jean Dassier commenced with the portrait of Martin Folkes in 1741. Martin Folkes was the nephew and heir of William Wake (see forthcoming blog entry). Jaques Antoine Dassier had come to England in 1741 where he had assumed the position of third engraver to the Royal Mint (April 1741). He had issues a prospectus reported in the press both in England and abroad for 13 medals (only 12 were produced) in 1741. Eisler suggests that wax portraits were made in England and the medals struck by his brother in Geneva (they are signed A Dassier).

Martin Folkes was the nephew and heir of William Wake Archbishop of Canterbury - he had inherited the set of 24 medallions of Hommes Illustres of 1725, portraits of leading English, Swiss and German Protestant reformers, based on Renaissance prototypes, personally presented to Wake by Jean Dassier (Eisler). That set was dedicated to Wake by Dassier.

Plaster Bust of Martin Folkes

Louis Francois Roubiliac

Purchased by Matthew Matey at the Roubiliac sale in 1762.

British Museum.

The marble Roubilic bust of Martin Folkes at Wilton House.

Conway Library, Courtauld Institute of Art .

Unfortunately this is the best photograph of this bust currently available at the present time - one can just see the socle which reproduces the reverse side of Dassier's medallion..

I am hoping to obtain permission to photograph the portrait sculpture at Wilton House in due course -

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Dassiers medallion of Martin Folkes is the completely naturalistic depiction of Folkes with no attempt at flattery. The medallion predates the similarly informal and realistic Roubiliac bust by several years. The influence of Dassier on the portrait busts by Roubiliac should be noted - both artists appear to be unflinching in depicting their subjects as they appeared in life. They will have certainly known each other - attending the same church and moving in the circle of the St Martin's Lane Academy and the intellectual and artistic hothouse of Old Slaughters Coffee House in St Martin's Lane.

Abraham de Moivre (1667-1754), an English mathematician of French Huguenot extraction, was a pioneer in the development of analytic trigonometry and in the theory of probability. Upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he was jailed as a Protestant. When released, he went to England where he became a close friend of Sir Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley. He is best known for a theorem, bearing his name for the solution of certain trigonometric functions

William Windham (1716-1761) was a member of a distinguished family in British political history. He went to Geneva in 1738 where he formed a group consisting of several young Englishmen and his tutor, Benjamin Stillingfleet, a disciple of the English prelate and philosopher Bishop Edward Stillingfleet (1635-1699). Among other works, the latter Stillingfleet wrote Irenicum in 1659 which suggested a compromise between Episcopacy and Presbyterianism.

Charles Spencer (1706-1758), Third Duke of Marlborough, known as The Earl of Sunderland between 1729 and 1733, was the son of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland and Lady Anne Churchill.

Spencer was a politician and General in the British Army, where he fought alongside King George II at the Battle of Dettingen in 1745. He briefly served as Lord Privy Seal in 1755. He is best known for his service as Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in the early part of the Seven Years’ War (1754-1763) where he led British forces during the Raid on St Malo in 1758. He died in Germany shortly thereafter.

Archdeacon Ralph Brideoake (1665-1743), Archdeacon of Winchester, was Prebendary of Hereford and Rector of St. Mary’s Southampton. He rebuilt the parish and parsonage house at his own expense. The medal was made on his death in 1743.

There are two versions of this medal, made from different dies. Medallic Illustrations states that this version is in lower relief and better executed than the other of its type.

John Campbell (1678-1743), second Duke of Argyle, general and statesman, took an important part in military and political affairs during the reign of Anne, and had a principal share in bringing about the Act of Union. Under the military leadership of Charles, Duke of Marlborough, Campbell distinguished himself in several battles, including those at Ramillies, Oudenarde, Lille, Ghent and Malplaquet. In 1715 he successfully quelled the Jacobite rebellion and subsequently was given the title of Duke of Greenwich.

Philip Dormer Stanhope, Fourth Earl of Chesterfield, (1694- 1773).Statesman, wit and letter-writer. Elected an M. P. whilst still a minor in 1715, he was one of the most brilliant characters of his time. In 1745 he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the following year Secretary of State. By 1743 he was the acknowledge leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. However in 1748, at his own behest, he retired from public office devoting his attention to literary matters.

John (Johannes) Carteret (1690-1763), Earl Granville, Viscount Carteret, Baron Carteret of Hawnes, was a distinguished orator and statesman. He was the son of George, 1st Baron Carteret, and Lady Grace Granville. He succeeded his father as Lord Carteret in 1695 at the age of five and entered the House of Lords in 1711, where he became one of Robert Walpole's most eloquent and prominent critics. In 1711 he supported in the House of Peers the Protestant succession. Because of his pro-Hanoverian policy, King George II appointed him as Secretary of State after Walpole's fall in 1742 at which time Carteret directed England's involvement against France in the War of the Austrian Succession. He also held the post of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He became Earl Granville on the death of his mother, shortly after this medal was executed. (Thompson)

William Pulteney (1684 -1764), 1st Earl of Bath, entered parliament in the reign of Queen Anne. Pulteney was Secretary of War from 1714 to 1717 in the first ministry of George I , and was on the committee of secrecy on the Treaty of Utrecht, formed in 1715. He was distinguished as the most able leader of the Opposition against Sir Robert Walpole. In1742 Pulteney was created Earl of Bath by King George II. He was buried, in his own vault in Islip chapel, Westminster Abbey.

Library Photograph of a marble bust of Sir Andrew Fountaine by Roubiliac at Wilton House.

Front and rear of a plaster bust of Sir Andrew Fountaine

unsigned or dated. c 1747.

60.3 x 48.3 x 24.8 cm

Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, Conn.

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Poor quality images of the monument to Sir Andrew Fountaine with the bust by Roubiliac at Narford Church.

The socle reproduces the obverse of the Dassier Medallion.

Sir Andrew Fountaine was born in 1676 in Norfolk, England into a respectable family at Narford Hall. He was the eldest son of the gentleman, Andrew Fountaine, and his wife, Sarah, Sir Thomas Chicheley’s youngest daughter. A gifted and charismatic man, he graduated from Christ Church in 1697 and was introduced to the court of William III by family friend, the second Duke of Devonshire. He moved quickly through the academic sphere and was chosen by Dr. Henry Aldrich in 1698 to present an oration in Latin to William III, for which Fountaine was knighted in 1699. Fountaine was a man of virtuosi interests, especially coins. In 1705, he contributed to George Hicke’s Thesaurus Septentrionalis, his personal research on Anglo- Saxon and Danish coinage.Nevertheless, what truly landed him into the realm of the Royal Court occurred in 1701 when he chosen to carry the Act of Succession with Lord Macclesfield to the elector of Hanover. Afterwards, Fountaine chose to extend his trip from Hanover and head to Germany and then Rome for the first of two European tours he would make throughout his lifetime. These journeys would effectively establish his reputation as an art collector and amateur architect.

Fountaine’s first trip to Italy began around the year 1702, the same year he was admitted to the Royal Society of Berlin. Most of what is known about this trip is through his correspondence with Leibnitz, the German philosopher and mathematician, whom he wrote frequently. Writing from Rome in June 1702, he told Leibnitz that he had “very little time to Spare in this Town, because the antiquities are soe numerous, and the other curiositys so diverting, that a stranger always has something to fill his time about." While in Rome, Fountaine was introduced to the renowned artist, Carlo Maratta, who would later produce the portrait of him.

Two Italian Medallions of Sir Andrew Fountaine dated 1715.

85 mm diam.

The bronze - showing on the reverse Bellona, rushing over rugged rocks strewed with armour, seizes and arrests Fortune, whose foot is placed on her wheel

On 16 June 1884, Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Wood held a four-day sale that scattered most of this legendary collection.
Sir Andrew Fountaine never married and died on 4 September 1753, leaving behind no children. His sister, Elizabeth, married Colonel Edward Clent and had one daughter also named Elizabeth, who would go on to marry Captain William Price. This Elizabeth, (Fountaine's niece) had a son named Brigg Price who would go on to assume the Fountaine surname and arms, carrying on the family name.

Portrait of Sir Andrew Fountaine and friends in the Tribune Gallery of the Uffizi, Florence

by Giulo Pignatta

Oil on canvas, 145.5 x 119 cm

Norwich Castle Museum.

For Fountaine see Ford, Brinsley. 1985. "Sir Andrew Fountaine: One of the Keenest Virtuosi of His Age". Apollo. 352-358.

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About Me

"The historian should be fearless and incorruptible; a man of independence, loving frankness and truth; one who, as the poets says, calls a fig a fig and a spade a spade. He should yield to neither hatred nor affection, not should be unsparing and unpitying. He should be neither shy nor deprecating, but an impartial judge, giving each side all it deserves but no more. He should know in his writing no country and no city; he should bow to no authority and acknowledge no king. He should never consider what this or that man will think, but should state the facts as they really occurred. Lucian of Samosata